The final public consult on Rocky View County’s draft aggregate resource plan was met with a strong attendance, according to Rocky View Gravel Watch member Keith Koebisch.
Held at Weedon Hall last Thursday, Koebisch, a Division 9 (Cochrane Lakes area) resident, said he is hopeful that the county will take into account the considerable resident backlash over more gravel pits in Div. 8 (Bearspaw) and Div. 9 and simply rewrite the entire draft.
“We keep hearing we have to ‘strike a balance’ but I don’t think we do … we pay much higher taxes than industry,” said Koebisch, referring to the social contract county residents entered into when purchasing their land in a primarily agricultural/residential area (divisions 8 and 9) that was never intended for industrial land uses.
Koebisch said he is concerned that some councillors, including Div. 9 Coun. Bruce Kendall, seem to be aggressively pushing a proposed aggregate resource plan through – coinciding with an election year.
“Why doesn’t Bruce (Kendall) make this an election issue?”
Many county residents have expressed concerns with placing industrial gravel pit operations near residential areas – highlighting such concerns as health risks; perceived inadequate setbacks of 500 metres; increased commercial traffic; noise concerns; and a safeguarding clause sterilizing county lands and putting the onus on the landowners to prove they don’t have valuable aggregate content prior to developing on their land.
County residents Samanntha Wright and Janet Ballantyne, members of grassroots watchdog group Rocky View Forward, stressed that if residents want to put the coals to the county and have their voices heard they must write their concerns down and have their voices heard by county administration.
The deadline for feedback is Feb. 24. The aggregate feedback forms are available at rockyview.ca and are to be emailed in to [email protected].
The county aims to present a final draft to council by April.
